Baseball player George Kelly, NewYork Giants first baseman, holding a baseball bat, standing in front of grandstands on the field at Weeghman Field prior to game against Chicago Cubs 1922 Photo SUMMARY Informal three-quarter length portrait of baseballplayer George High Pockets Kelly, of the National League's New York Giants, holding a baseball bat, standing in front of grandstands on the field at Weeghman Field (later renamed Wrigley Field). SDN-063537, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society.

A life-time .297 batting average in 5,993 at bats

‘Highpockets Kelly, Oh Sure!… I remember him well,’ said one of our veteran baseballhistorian.com fans. ‘Kelly was the type of player who came through for manager John McGraw with the key hit to win many games for the New York Giants during the 1920s… And, I’ll tell you another thing, he was pleasant, hard working and above all, he played winning baseball.’

One of the few right-handed first basemen in MLB history, the muscular 6 ft 4 inch, 190-pound George Kelly led the National League in homers with 23 in 1921 when he also led the league in homer percentage with 3.9%. He led the NL twice in RBIs, with 94 in 1920 and 136 in 1924, and had five seasons of over 100 RBIs.

From 1920 thru 1925 George Highpockets Kelly had five straight seasons of at least 94 RBIs and the New York Giants finished in second place in ’20, then won four consecutive NL pennants, then finished in second place in '25. He made two outstanding fielding plays in the 1921 World Series, and while hitting fifth in the batting order scored 3 runs and had 3 RBIs to help the Giants defeat the NY Yankees 5 games to 3 (an eight game Series in this era). In the 1922 World Series George Kelly batted cleanup and singled to drive home the winning run in the last game of the Series to led the Giants to a 4 game sweep over the Yankees. Kelly got 5 hits in 18 at bats with 2 RBIs in the Series.

In the 1923 World Series George Kelly batting fifth lined 4 singles in 22 at bats, .182 with 1-Run and one RBI as the Giants lost to the Yankees 4 games to 2.

George Kelly batted leadoff in the entire 1924 World Series and was the hero as the Giants defeated the Washington Senators 4 games to 3. Highpockets Kelly lined seven singles, one double, and one homer in 31 at bats, a .290 batting average, scored a series high 7 runs and had 4 RBIs. In this Series, McGraw used George Kelly at first base, at second base and in the outfield.

In February of 1927 Kelly was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Edd Roush. In mid-1930 Kelly was sold to the Cubs.

Pitching Statistics

Year

Team

G

GS

W

L

SV

CG

SHO

IP

H

R

ER

HR

BB

IBB

SO

WP

HBP

BK

ERA

1917

NYG (NL)

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

5.0

4

0

0

0

1

0

2

0

0

0

0.00

18 years

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

5.0

4

0

0

0

1

0

2

0

0

0

0.00

Batting Statistics

Year

Team

G

AB

R

H

2B

3B

HR

RBI

BB

SO

SB

CS

IBB

HBP

SH

SF

AVG

OBP

SLG

1915

NYG (NL)

17

38

2

6

0

0

1

4

1

9

0

1

0

0

1

0

.158

.179

SLG

1916

NYG (NL)

49

76

4

12

2

1

0

3

6

24

1

0

0

0

2

0

.158

.220

SLG

1917

PIT (NL)

8

23

2

2

0

1

0

0

1

9

0

0

0

0

0

0

.87

.125

SLG

1917

NYG (NL)

11

7

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

.0

.0

SLG

1919

NYG (NL)

32

107

12

31

6

2

1

14

3

15

1

0

0

1

5

0

.290

.315

SLG

1920

NYG (NL)

155

590

69

157

22

11

11

94

41

92

6

16

0

6

14

0

.266

.320

SLG

1921

NYG (NL)

149

587

95

181

42

9

23

122

40

73

4

12

0

3

17

0

.308

.356

SLG

1922

NYG (NL)

151

592

96

194

33

8

17

107

30

65

12

3

0

3

15

0

.328

.363

SLG

1923

NYG (NL)

145

560

82

172

23

5

16

103

47

64

14

7

0

1

9

0

.307

.362

SLG

1924

NYG (NL)

144

571

91

185

37

9

21

136

38

52

7

2

0

5

13

0

.324

.371

SLG

1925

NYG (NL)

147

586

87

181

29

3

20

99

35

54

5

2

0

2

10

0

.309

.350

SLG

1926

NYG (NL)

136

499

70

151

24

4

13

80

36

52

4

0

0

2

15

0

.303

.352

SLG

1927

CIN (NL)

61

222

27

60

16

4

5

21

11

23

1

0

0

1

2

0

.270

.308

SLG

1928

CIN (NL)

116

402

46

119

33

7

3

58

28

35

2

0

0

2

17

0

.296

.345

SLG

1929

CIN (NL)

147

577

73

169

45

9

5

103

33

61

7

0

0

1

21

0

.293

.332

SLG

1930

CIN (NL)

51

188

18

54

10

1

5

35

7

20

1

0

0

0

11

0

.287

.313

SLG

1930

CHC (NL)

39

166

22

55

6

1

3

19

7

16

0

0

0

1

4

0

.331

.362

SLG

1932

BRO (NL)

64

202

23

49

9

1

4

22

22

27

0

0

0

0

2

0

.243

.317

SLG

18 years

1622

5993

819

1778

337

76

148

1020

386

694

65

43

0

28

158

0

.297

.342

.SLG

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